Improvement in automatic fire-alarms



3Sheets-Sheet1. D. KEARNEY.

AUTOMATIC FIRE-ALARM. N0.171,669. Patented J'aa. 4,1876.

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PE ERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAFNER wASmNGTou D c 4 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. D. KEARNEY. AUTOMATIC FIRE-ALARM. No. 171,669. Patented Jan.4, 1876.

FIG. 2

WITIESSEs INVENTUB N4 PETERS. Pno'roumoemman. WASHINGTON, I: C

an!" r street with regard to fire-alarms by numbers,

. UNITED STATES PATENT QEEIQE DANIEL KEARNEY, OF MONTREAL, CANADA.

' IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC FlRE-ALARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 171,669, dated J annary 4, 1876; application filed November 4, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL KEARNEY, of the city and district of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada, engineer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements on Automatic Fire-Alarms and Combined Automatic Fire-Alarm and Extinguisher; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention consists, in the first place, of the construction of an electromagnetic firealarm, arranged in such a mannerthat it'will not only signify the street in which the fire occurs, but also the particular house in said street.

It is intended to use the invention only where a system of electro-telegraph wires has been arranged in connection with fire-stations or other alarms, such as church-bells, 850., or alarms local to the building or premises arranged for that purpose; otherwise such arrangements will have to be made. The only difi'erence in this respect will be designating the locality where the fire occurs by the number, such as is used for the fire-signal box. I

should prefer to designate it by arranging the and make the number of the house in the street the number of the fire-alarm signal in that street. For instance, if a fire occurred at the house number fifty-three, in the street number nine, in the fire-alarm signal my signal would first strike nine. There would then be a. pause, when it would strike five, and af-' ter a shorter pause strike three. There would occur a pause of still greater length, when the signal would be repeated. But my invention is also applicable to numbers used to designate the locality, as in the fire-signal box now in use above mentioned.

In the above it has been stated that the number of the street will first be given; but it will be readily understoodthat should it be preferred to give first the number of the house, the same may be effected by. a very slight change in the details of construction of the in- 1 first three projections, then a space; then IOIll vention.

My invention consists, secondly, of an auto matic fire-extinguisher, to be used in combination with the above, so that in the combined proper relative positions.

form, whenever a fire occurs in any room in a house or other building, my combined mech anism will turn the water onto the particular room in which the fire occurs, and sound the alarm at the same time; but for the ex tinguisher it is necessary to have or create a head or pressure of water in the pipe hereinafter mentioned;

In the drawing hereunto annexed similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a building, showing the general arrangement of my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my automatic fire-alarm mechanism, which will be all comprised under the letter A in this specification. Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2. Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 are details of Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a portion of my automatic fire-extinguishing mechanism, which will be all comprised under the letter Bin this specification. Fig. 9 is a vertical section of Fig. 8. Figs. 10, 11 are details of Figs. 8 and 9. Fig. 12 is a side elevation of a portion of the mechanism constituting the connecting-link, which operates simultaneously A and B, or A alone if B is not present, and will be comprised under the letter C in the following specification. Fig. 13 is a detail of extinguisher.

I will first describe the construction of A. Letter or is an entablature, upon which the parts are secured. bis any suitable frame for holding the moving and smaller parts in their 0 is a clock gear- Wheel, made with an ordinary ratchet-wheel, d, and has a cylinder or drum, 6, on the axle f, for a cord or chain and weight to operate in the ordinary manner to revolve the same. Toward the opposite end of the axle f to that on which the wheel 0 is placed is secured a pinion, intermeshing with the gear-wheel g,- this, in its turn, engages with the pinion h on the shaft 5, on which is also secured the fan 70.

On, the wheel 0 projections lare formed. These projections are in number, and spaced between them in accordance to the signal or number of 1 strokes to be struck on a bell or other alarm instruments, as shown in Fig. 4. There are projections, then aspace and two projections. By this three strokes would be struck, then four, then two, which would be read three hundred and forty-two. After-this a longer versa.

space occurs, and then six projections, and

then five, which would similarly represent sixty-five. The first of these may represent the street, and the latter the house, or vice After the above a long space occurs, and in the revolutions of ,the wheel 0 the signal isrepeated at each revolution. Bycthe size of the fan 70 the wheel is regulated to revolve at any desired speed in the ordinary manner in this class of mechanism. m is a standard'attached on a, and, as shown in the drawing, the bell-crank n and arm 0 are pivoted to it, rotating freely horizontally; On the inward end of the bell-crank n a socket is formed for engaging with the pins 1. (See Fig. 7.) On the outward end of the bell-crank n is attached an insulated wedge, 42. (See Fig.

l 5.) u is a spiral or other suitable spring (in this case simply represented by a single line) attached to a and the outer extremity of the bell-crank 'n, to cause the socket p to be engagedlwith the projection Z, unless forcibly prevented from so doing, as will be hereinjections l, to return to its proper position to engage with the next projection. a. is a guide for the rod 11 (see Figs. 1 and 8,) the wedge c on the top of which engages with the wedge '22, Fig. 5. d. and e are electric-telegraph wires, attached, one tothe standard m and the other to the frame b, which is insulated, the current of electricity passing, through the standard,

bell-crank, arm, and projection r on the'arm, to the angle-plate s, and finally to the wire 0 which is continued to complete the circuit. If, now, by means hereinafter described, the rod 12 and wedge c are raised, and acting on the wedge 0, they cause the socket p to be.

drawn back from engaging with the projection 1; the electrical current has then no other channel than to pass, by the arm 0, projection r, and surface s, to the frame I; i and wire 0 Now, when the projection acting on the wedgeq forces back the arm 0, the contact of the projection 1' with the plate 8 is removed, and the electrical current is cut oil This action will be arranged to sound any of the ordinary alarms in any of the manners at present in use, and, as the action of breaking the electrical current is effected at the passage of each of the projections l, acting on the wedge q, a corresponding number of strokes is struck upon the alarm.

The machine B is constructed as follows To the main service water-pipe is attached a balance globe-valve, g and on the projection h forming the stufiingbox of the valve,

is screwed a socket, 5 The upper part is made in the form of a hollow cylinder, on which the piston k (attached onfthe extension of the valve-spindle l works.

the bottom of the cylinder. n is a cylinder,

which is preferably made in one with the pipe f for the sake of compactness and economy, otherwise notnecessarily so. In this the piston-valve 0 is placed, being provided with a recess, p and groove q. The cylinder is fur- :ther provided with a passage, r, made in the same side as the recess 12 in the valve is situ ated. A passage, 8', is also formed, connecting the bottom of the cylinder with outer space. To the top of the cylinder n? issc'rewed another cylinder, t, divided into two parts ;by

the diaphragm u. The piston-valve 0 is inlade in one with a spindle, 7', extending upward, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9,and,on itissecured the piston a. Thisis prevented from descend ing lower in the cylinder than theposition shown by making thecylinder a little smaller in diameter in its lower part, and ,thusaforrh; ing a slightshoulder for ittorest upon, leaving a space, 0 also suspending the valve and other parts in, the proper position, b? is any suitable projection working in a groove formed on the side of the cylinder,for preventing the piston a. fromturniug in the cylinder, and thus changing I the. position; of the rod and Wedge 0 attached to it. is a collar on the spindle r, preventing thevalve 0 and piston a? from rising more than the proper height. Any suitable number of per: forations, a, are made inthelower partiof the cylinder t. These and opening 8 are fbrthe purpose of allowing any water leaking, past the valve 0 to escape, and not riseabove the valve and destroy the powder above, or raise a pressure on the end of v the valve below and a move it. unduly, as will hereinafter morefully be understood. tf is an eye formed onxthe wedge c, by which a cord or, wire is attached,

and said wire is carried overa pulley situated above the wedge, and to the end oftlie wire is attacheda weight of suflicient gravity ex actly to counterbalancethe red I andall the parts thereto attached. gfis a small tube or nipple, (which inFigs.8and 9 is situated inimediately behind the cylinder t, and therefore in them it does not appear,) communicating, by a small opening, Ifiwith the s1)acec i; is a pipe connecting the space m with there cess p. k is a pipe connecting the pipe with the groove q,when1the valve 0 :is moved in the proper position for that purpose; is a small bead or molding attachedon the, wall m, preferably up. high neanthe ceilinggand the machine B placed and securelyattached in position, to bring the nipple g ltotlle posi 'tion shown. In the top of the beadasinall l groove, n is formed, in which a train of gunpowder is laid. The arrangement of the heads I will be hereinafter more particularly described. a

This piston is so situated that when the valves are down on their seats a space, at, exists between it and The operation of this mechanism is as fol lows: The space 0 is filled with gunpowder by raising the collar 01 to the diaphragm u,

when the piston a will be raised clear of the cylinder t, and give a sufficient space for introducing the powder; or this may be done by detaching the piston from the rod by removing the screw securing it, and sliding it upon the rod. The nipple g and grooves 11, will also be charged with gunpowder. When the powder in the groove 71? is ignited the train, by the nipple 9 connects with the powder in the recess 0 and causes it to explode, forcibly ejecting the piston a from the cylinder t. By this means the Wedge at the upper end of the rod causes the socket p to be withdrawn from the projection l, and allows the alarm to act. It also raises the pistonvalve 0 whichis retainedin its raised position by the cord and counter-balance, above described as attached to the eyef and connects the groove q with the pipe k closing the passage 4*, and causing the water to flow, by the pipe 7?, into the recess m where its pressure, acting on the surface of the piston it, causes the balance-valves below attached to open and allow the water to pass through the globe-valve g and into the extension of the service-pipe attached to its other end. Thus the water is admitted into all the main service-pipes over the building.

The beads Z are arranged as follows: One

bead is arranged completely around each flat of the building, and a second bead,'l is arranged completely around each room in each flat, or any particular room, as desired, should some of them be deemed safe without it. In each room that the second bead Z is'placed a machine, B, is attached to it as a sub to the main one in the basement. These sub-machines have the pipes 0 bearing the same relt, a and g and connect with the beads 1 that are laid around each fiat. They are made in one, with a bracket, d for securely attaching on the walls. The piston 12 is secured on the rod 12 This whole machine is represented by the letter C in Fig. 1. v

The operation of the whole arrangement of the invention is as follows: In the building delineated in Fig. 1 we will suppose a fire to occur in the room-D. The fire igniting the powder in the two beads 1 the sub-machine B in that room is operated by the lower one, While the machine 0 in the room E is operated by the upper one. This raises the rod b, and

What I claim as my invention is as follows:

1. The combination of the projections lwith arm 0, having projections r, acting upon surface s, and with bell'crank a, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of the equilibrium-valves in g with the piston k substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The combination of the equilibrium-valves in g',,piston W, and valve 0 substantially as and for the-purposes described.

4. The combination of the valve 0, piston a space 0 substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

, 5. The combination of the equilibrium-valves in g, piston-k connection 6 valve'o, connection 70 piston a and space 0 substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. The combination of the spaces with nipple g and grooved beads 1 substantiallyas and for the purposes set forth.

7. The bead Z arranged completely around each room or each flat, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

8. The combination of a train or trains of powder, substantially as described, with either or both of the machines B and Q, constructed substantially as described.

Montreal, 29th day of October, A. D. 1875.

DANIEL KEARNEY.

Witnesses:

G. G. C. SIMPSON, M. A. NELSON. 

